Pity the poor Governator.

He's in the midst of a bare-knuckles political fight, and desperately needs an influx of cash from his well-heeled, union-bustin' pals (the same kind of money he once promised he would never lower himself to accept). Unfortunately for Ahnuld, W also wants to get his grubbys on that same pile of dough, and what W wants, he goes and takes.

And so, brushing aside the petulant objections of Mr. Schwarzenegger, W will swagger into town today to liberate a heap of loot from a roomful of Beverly Hills potentates, in the process siphoning away some of the California GOP's corporate cash lifeblood.

While the President gleefully lightens the pockets of beneficiaries of his tax cuts, our Governor will slink into a lonely corner of his Brentwood estate, fire up a Cohiba, and count his T3 residuals, wiling away the hours until Bush jets back to the White House, and he is, once again, the Golden State's undisputed Alpha male.  ¶ 1:30 PM